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Morning Newbie Desert Drive - Sweihan (Abu Dhabi) - 20 Mar 2020


Srikumar

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Thanks @Srikumar  for marshalling the sweihan drive and @Brette It was indeed a pleasure to drive there and get whatever learnt till now better.

Wonderful day spent well considering the current situation all around. Much needed break 

Organizers @Rahimdad, @Frederic, @Gaurav and @Srikumar please arrange one more sweihan drive next week and I am already RSVPing in advance :-))

Edited by Chaitanya D
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TRIP REPORT

Sweihan is famous for its large rolling dunes and has a lot to offer for every level of offroaders. Since we were having a good set of Newbies, I was looking forward to having some good fun on some of the broad dunes that this place has to offer.

Except for a couple of no-shows, the remaining 12 cars met on time and we left from the meeting point towards the deflation point. Keeping in mind, the new requirements of Social Distancing, we kept the briefing to a bare important essentials and we started off. @Kalahari was my second lead and I was quite impressed with his drive level, as in some tricky places he managed to keep up with me. Well done buddy.

@Bibin Tom was our absolute newbie with his Pathfinder and I am sure that driving in Sweihan would have been a fantastic learning experience. You drove well for an absolute newbie and its good that you were calm and listening to the instructions. With a combined shovel effort you were able to self recover yourself from a sticky situation. That is the real fun of offroading, to overcome obstacles.

@sebin was driving with us for the third time and his confidence and car control was showing when he was managing the side sloping. However, a small wrong judgement of possibly leaving too much of a gap and not seeing the track taken, caused him to go off the route into a ditch which knocked off some portion of his low hanging front and rear bumper. It didnt seem like a major issue and I am sure that it can be easily fixed back in time for next weekends drive.

@Zed and @Chaitanya D managed their patrol Y62s very well and are looking like they are getting in sync with these monster vehicles. Good driving guys.

@Jamy B. its good to see the vast improvement in your driving. There were plenty of times that after crossing a dune I would turn back to see how the first few cars were managing and when I would see that it was your turn to cross the dune, I would start moving the convoy. That's a testimony to the confidence that you have given me that you can manage your Xterra pretty well.

It was nice seeing @Jas Gajaria back after a long time with his modified Pajero. Though not sure if the Pajero was ready to be back, as due to ECU tuning there were times when the car just refused to start or would die while idling. Hope its not a major issue.

@Vanessa8580 was driving her big blue Pajero today, and I am sure she would have felt the difference after the last couple of weeks. But you again showed that in offroading it's the driver that is more important than the car. Well driven today  

@Shailja Kalia was joining us for the first time in her beloved FJ and though I didn't have a visual on her, I heard some good feedback about your drive skills. Look forward to seeing you in the upcoming weeks.

@Pancho was the quiet person at the back of the convoy. Well driven and well managed with zero issues.

With a long convoy support at the back is critical to ensure the smooth movement of all the cars. Special thanks to @Brette for supporting the sweep position. You did a great job.

Thanks to everyone for a wonderful drive and see you next week.

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Maybe I was the quiet person in the convoy (in the beginning no radio) but I felt I did extreme dune rides for my second time and you cannot imagine how much fun I had. Next week I will try to sign up for 2 rides. I am really addicted and want to learn. I did have a recovery but with excellent guidance of @brette I recovered within a few minutes. It is amazing what you can do with car. Thanks @Srikumar  for the beautiful route.

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Thanks @Srikumar  for leading the Sweihan Convoy, and you even called it off at the right time so that everyone's in the Adnoc Station by 12noon, so those going to Qudra can make it (I hope they did) and also the rest of us can continue with the afternoon.

Some Lessons Learned yesterday:

  • My first time shoveling with the Spoon. I was sure that we were gonna tug that Pathfinder from behind, since there's a small ditch in front of  it... but wow, Mr. @Srikumar patiently advised and mentored the driver to slowly push forward, then a bit to the right, and voila! Wow, that Big White Pathfinder just got itself out of the ditch! This is very useful in case I get my White Patrol stuck in similar situation (though I hope I don't find myself in that position *fingers crossed).
  • Years ago, I had a "Flying Pajero" incident, where my I hit full gas on the acceleration and experienced that thrilling feeling of Superman in seconds, before of course... gravity reality sets in, and... oh well, i leave that story for in-person BBQ chatfire sessions 😁 This is why every time I go up and hit full gas, I just had flashback and sort of hesitated. But Mr. Sri again managed to mentor me and I pulled through my first Side-Sloping with 3,500kg car. After that, hey I think I just conquered my fear and pat my Patrol on the steering wheel. Turns out you don't need a  4L for this kind of maneuver.

Btw, who has my photo of me nose-diving with the Patrol? cc @Jas Gajaria ?

Thank you everyone who were at the convoy, some camaraderie and hope to meet you at future drives, cheers!

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Thank you @Srikumar for an amazing morning drive! Great choice of area and dunes, which allowed us to have more fun driving, as well as enjoy the scenery. @Brette was of great support, keeping the convoy together and moving forward.

I really appreciate @Srikumar’s trust in my driving skills! Your validation means a lot!

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4 minutes ago, Pancho said:

hello, how do I posted some  photos. I do not know if this is the way to do it and hope you like them. I have got some more and if needed I can send higher quality per email. I am sorry my red car is on most of them

newbe 20-03 photo 01.jpg

newbe 20-03 photo 02.jpg

newbe 20-03 photo 03.jpg

newbe 20-03 photo 04.jpg

newbe 20-03 photo 05.jpg

newbe 20-03 photo 06.jpg

newbe 20-03 photo 07.jpg

Please go the the drop down options on the website and upload in the gallery for this particular ride

Or use the Link below

https://carnity.com/gallery/category/190-newbie-sweihan-abu-dhabi-20-mar-2020

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Thanks @Srikumar for again a fun drive ! It was the second time that I was able to explore Sweihan and I really love the area .... So much fun there ! 

There is indeed a bit of a difference between our little blue and our big blue but I am happy I am able to manage both cars !! Not sure though if the car will be able to make it on higher levels but I am very confident @Frederic will find a solution for that 😜

I hope to see you all next week !!

 

 

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